Saturday, April 15, 2017

Cheap Obamacare Cartoons







Bannon bashing: Why the press is targeting the Trump aide as barely hanging on

Kurtz: The bullseye on Steve Bannon
I don’t know whether Steve Bannon has a long-term future in the White House, but I do know this:
The press wants him out.
There has been an almost obsessive focus with the fate of President Trump’s chief strategist, and the tone of the stories about the internal battles is unmistakable.
Bannon is the wild man, the extremist, the nationalist who is pulling the president in the wrong direction. He is fighting the moderates, the realists, the gang led by Jared Kushner that is nudging the president in a more reasonable direction.

And the Kushner faction, which includes a couple of Wall Street veterans, happens to favor the kind of compromises that most journalists want.
As an added bonus, Bannon has made no secret of his loathing for the press. So there’s an element of payback here as well.
I’m not minimizing the importance of these battles. Since Trump is not a fiercely ideological leader, the voices he listens to may well shape the future of his administration.
But there is a tendency in some media quarters to depict the combative Bannon as a Svengali who is pulling the president’s strings. The reality is that Trump was sounding nationalist themes, especially on trade and economic issues, decades ago. The reality is that Bannon joined the campaign for the final 2-1/2 months.
That is not to minimize his importance as a force in the White House. Trump respects Bannon as a former Goldman Sachs executive and Hollywood entrepreneur who made his own fortune. But Trump is at heart a dealmaker who prides himself on flexibility.
It’s also true that the president wants to be the star of his own show. Bannon hasn’t exactly sought a high profile, passing up every television interview request since he joined the campaign. But the Time magazine cover on him—“The Great Manipulator”—didn’t please the boss.
The infighting, waged through constant leaks to the press, is all too real and goes well beyond Bannon. But the friction between Bannon and Kushner reached the point where Trump told them to work things out, or he would do it for them. And a son-in-law tends not to lose that kind of battle.
A couple of presidential interviews this week have fueled the notion that Bannon is on thin ice. Trump told the Wall Street Journal that Bannon is “a guy who works for me.”
And the president said this to New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin: “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late. I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist.”
To me, that’s a bit of a brushback pitch to remind Bannon that hey, he’s staff, and that it was Trump that got Trump elected.
But the Washington Post says Bannon has been “publicly humiliated by his boss.”
The paper called him “a marked man,” and then used this medical metaphor:
“The president’s comments were described by White House officials as a dressing-down and warning shot, though one Bannon friend, reflecting on them Wednesday, likened Bannon to a terminally ill family member who had been moved into hospice care.”

There were also leaked and damaging assessments in the New York Times, which said Bannon is keeping a low profile due to his “isolation inside the White House,” with aides describing Trump’s “growing irritation” with all the credit he is getting.
And this zinger, quoting a source as saying Trump has described Bannon as “not a team player.”

But for all the journalistic drama, both papers get around to acknowledging that nothing may change.
The Post: “For now, at least, Bannon may survive the turmoil.”
The Times: “One person with firsthand knowledge of internal White House dynamics…insisted that no immediate changes were likely.”
Ah. Never mind.
Bannon is a symbol. To many Trump supporters, he represents the defiant, revolutionary conservatism they want from the president. To many Trump detractors, and many media types, he represents an undisciplined, extremist ideology--a pirate, in Newt Gingrich's word. It's still unclear whether he'll ultimately have to walk the plank.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. 

Trump plays hardball with Dems on ObamaCare payments

Crying :--(

Smiling :-)
President Trump has riled congressional Democrats by threatening earlier this week to hold back payments to health insurers in an apparent bid to get them to negotiate over a new ObamaCare replacement package.
The president needled the minority party – which he’s suggested he could work with in the wake of House Republicans’ failure to pass an earlier repeal/replace bill – in a wide-ranging interview this week with The Wall Street Journal.
While his comments to the newspaper on foreign threats and White House palace intrigue drew more attention, Trump pointedly threatened not to pay what are known as "cost-sharing" subsidies to insurers meant to bring down the cost of deductibles and copayments for consumers. They're separate from the better-known premium subsidies that customers receive. But without them, experts say the government marketplaces that provide subsidized private insurance could face turmoil.
“I don’t want people to get hurt,” Trump said in the Journal interview. “What I think should happen—and will happen—is the Democrats will start calling me and negotiating.”
So far, Democrats are taking the opposite approach – lashing out at Trump and instead demanding that the payments be included in an upcoming spending bill.
“Refusing to make the Cost Sharing Reduction payments has no purpose but to hurt millions of people, and manufacture a crisis,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement. “If President Trump followed through on his appalling threat, millions of Americans would see their out-of-pocket costs skyrocket and premiums would immediately be driven up by at least 15 percent.”
The new administration has continued to make cost-sharing payments to insurers as it weighs options.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration announced limited fixes Thursday for shaky health insurance markets, while reaffirming its goal of dismantling the Obama-era law.
Many of the changes announced Thursday follow recommendations from insurers, who wanted the government to address shortcomings with HealthCare.gov markets, including complaints that some people are gaming the system by signing up only when they get sick, and then dropping out after being treated.
The changes announced Thursday include:
-- A shortened sign-up window of 45 days, starting with coverage for 2018.
-- Curbs on "special enrollment periods" that allow consumers to sign up outside the normal open enrollment window.
-- Allowing an insurer to collect past debt for unpaid premiums from the prior 12 months before applying a consumer's payments to a new policy.
-- Giving insurers more flexibility to design low-premium plans that can be tailored to young adults.
"While these steps will help stabilize the individual and small group markets, they are not a long-term cure for the problems that the Affordable Care Act has created in our health care system," Seema Verma, the Trump administration official responsible for the markets, said in a statement.
The changes come as insurers are figuring out their plans for 2018.
This year saw premium increases averaging 25 percent for a standard plan in states served by HealthCare.gov. Some insurers say they've lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and many have pulled back or are considering it.
Most communities will have competing insurers on the public marketplace next year, but a growing number will be down to one, and some areas may face having none.

Pro-Trump blogger Cernovich getting big scoops, mainstream attention



A year ago, Mike Cernovich was a fringe blogger posting a blend of pro-Trump memes and self-help tips from his home base in Southern California. Today, he's beating the mainstream media to some of the Trump era's biggest news stories.
While still far from a household name, Cernovich was first to ID Susan Rice as the key official in the "unmasking" controversy -- and accurately predicted President Trump's strikes in Syria last week, shortly before they were launched.
The scoops don't mean he's gone mainstream. Cernovich remains a divisive figure, derided by some media outlets as a cog of the alt-right and a white nationalist, labels he rejects. But his recent reporting is attracting growing attention, including from Trump's inner circle.
“I view myself as having an adversarial approach to the media,” he told Fox News. “I want to do journalism on journalists. I want to do the stories on stories that aren’t being told.”
Cernovich describes himself as a “lawyer, author, free speech activist, and documentary filmmaker.” Before he was on the Trump train, he started out as a self-help guru for men, via his blog Danger & Play which offered style and fitness tips, and encouraged men to adopt a style of alpha masculinity.
“I didn’t take the traditional journalist route,” he said. “It started as a Men’s Health kind of thing with a bit of an edge.”
That is an understatement. Some of his posts were inflammatory, including one on "How to choke a woman during sex" and another dismissing the concept of “date rape."
“No one says you were 'date murdered' if killed by boyfriend or a date. It's just ‘murder,’” he had said in a tweet. His views have led The Guardian to label him "a professional misogynist and date rape apologist."
Last year, Cernovich became known for promoting more outlandish stories about Hillary Clinton – he pushed the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory that she was connected to a child sex ring in a D.C. pizzeria, and promoted a number of theories about Clinton’s allegedly failing health, once making #HillarysHealth a trending hashtag on Twitter.
But Cernovich rejects claims by some that he's a white nationalist, saying that indicates a focus on a white ethno state -- something he says he has no interest in -- and notes his daughter is half-Persian.
“I call it the new right,” he said, when asked how he'd describe his affiliation. “The new right-wing movement is a wide group of people committed to free speech, anti-war, trade, it’s sympathetic to whistleblowers. It’s coalescing on a number of issues.”
While #HillarysHealth was dismissed by many as a fringe conspiracy theory, other media eventually focused closely on her health after she collapsed at a 9/11 remembrance service and was filmed being dragged into a van by aides.
"60 Minutes" profiled Cernovich recently after the pizzeria – Comet Ping Pong -- at the center of the D.C. conspiracy theory was raided by a gunman. However, Cernovich adamantly says he never named the restaurant. His connection to "Pizzagate" led "60 Minutes" to brand him as a spreader of fake news.
But two recent scoops have been anything but fake.
On April 2, Cernovich named Rice as the high-level Obama administration official behind the “unmasking” of names of Trump campaign officials caught up in surveillance. He posted the scoop on Twitter and on Medium, and the news quickly zipped around right-wing Twitter users and Reddit groups.
Bloomberg News and Fox News then reported that Rice sought to unmask the names, leading other outlets to focus on the story and forcing a response from Rice herself, who maintains she acted appropriately.
But those who monitor Cernovich already were well aware of the claim. The scoop was noticed in particular by Donald Trump Jr., who said Cernovich deserved a Pulitzer.
But Cernovich wasn’t done. On April 6, at 4:01 p.m. ET, after the Assad regime was accused of launching a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria, Cernovich tweeted a breaking news alert that imminent U.S. strikes were possible:
According to Fox News’ reporting, this was less than 30 minutes before Trump OK’d the airstrikes on Syria. Again, Cernovich’s reporting initially was ignored by mainstream reporters, until the strikes began.
Cernovich has been noticed by top Trump officials, though it's unclear how close his own sources may be to them. In addition to Trump Jr.’s tweet, Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway promoted his appearance on "60 Minutes."
Cernovich, noting how controversial he is, said, “It takes a great deal of courage to give me a public shout out, that’s for sure.”
Indeed, some conservatives in outlets like National Review have expressed dismay at members of Trump's inner circle praising Cernovich.
But Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said he's not surprised.
"Birds of a feather flock together," Bannon told Fox News. "Cernovich deals in the same kind of innuendo that the president does, so it's a marriage made in heaven -- or hell."
Bannon added that Trump has "made no secret of his distaste for the media and so this is another attempt to get around what he considers the enemy."
For his part, Cernovich says he has a number of sources, some anonymous and some not, and he learned of the Rice scoop from sources telling him outlets such as The New York Times and Bloomberg were sitting on the story.
Cernovich’s break is eerily reminiscent of the 1998 scoop that brought Drudge Report’s Matt Drudge to prominence. Drudge broke the news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, after Newsweek decided to sit on reporter Michael Isikoff’s scoop. Drudge ran with it and it turned the then-fringe news aggregator into one of the biggest names in news.
Cernovich says he is a big admirer of Drudge, and says he counts being added to Drudge’s blog roll as one of the biggest moments of his professional life. He also shares Drudge’s combative approach to the mainstream media.
Cernovich's notoriety is definitely on the rise; he has been profiled recently by The New York Times, The New Yorker and The Washington Post.
As for what’s next, Cernovich says he has about five more “high-impact” stories to drop, stories he says the legacy media would love to get their hands on.
“I have a lot of big stories,” he said. “I’m just waiting to drop them at exactly the right time.”

Tax Day protests: Anti-Trump marches planned nationwide to demand tax returns


I'm suppose to pay taxes, duh I didn't know that :-)


Democratic lawmakers and liberal activists plan to ring in Tax Day with nationwide protests this weekend meant to pressure President Trump to release his tax returns -- with organizers hoping for the biggest anti-Trump showing since January's Women's March.
On Saturday, thousands are expected to attend 'Tax Marches' in approximately 150 cities, including several affiliated events overseas.
“Whether people support him or not, [releasing his tax returns] is something that people think he should do. I think there is a chance something like this could move him,” said Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs at Public Citizen, one of the groups organizing the marches.
The president's supporters, however, see the marches -- and the persistent tax return focus -- as a waste of time.
In Colorado Springs, Trump backers plan to hold a counter-protest on Saturday. For them, what is in Trump's tax returns pales in comparison to what could be in his tax plan.
"Their whole message is they want to see the president's tax returns. I care far more about his policy than his tax returns," Trevor Dierdorff, El Paso County Republican Party chairman, told the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio, said during a recent House Ways and Means Committee hearing that the pressure on Trump to release his returns is a "political mission," arguing the kind of bombshells Democrats are seeking wouldn't even be in such documents.
The protests, if nothing else, could make for a rowdy scene in cities across the country, reminiscent of the Women's March on inauguration weekend.
As many as 25,000 are expected to attend the rally in Washington, D.C. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., will be among the speakers.
Two of the largest events are expected in Seattle, site of the World Trade Organization protests of the 1990s. In addition to the expected 25,000 marching in “Tax March Seattle,” as many as 7,000 Black Lives Matter activists plan to come out for their own rally focusing on Trump's tax returns.
There also is a protest planned in front of Trump Plaza in West Palm Beach, Fla. The protest will move to Bingham Island, directly adjacent to the Mar-a-Lago resort where Trump is staying for the weekend. According to their Facebook page, about 1,000 are expected to attend.
While organic in nature, the marches are being organized under the umbrella of several liberal activists. The partnering labor unions and activist groups range from the well-known -- MoveOn.org and Common Cause -- to more obscure players like the Endangered Species Coalition.
Gilbert contends the events could build support for an agenda beyond Trump’s taxes, such as tax fairness and economic justice.
She said Saturday’s events are focused on transparency and accountability, issues that unite Americans -- and noted that bills have been introduced in numerous states that would require presidential candidates to disclose their taxes.
The idea for the march has its roots in the response to a January appearance by White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway. Asked her thoughts on an online petition demanding Trump release his tax returns, Conway replied that the White House would not release his tax returns and the issue was of little concern to Americans.
“We litigated this all through the election. People didn't care. They voted for him,” she said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
The comments lit up social media and grassroots organizers began circulating plans for this weekend’s events.
According to the Facebook post by organizers of a rally in London, the goal is to be “in solidarity with the struggle of our American brothers and sisters and in protest of the xenophobia, isolationism, destruction to our planet, economy and future, and rising tides of division in Europe” and to offer “hope for a more inclusive, peaceful tomorrow.”
Voters may be split on the tax return issue. An April Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll found 53 percent of voters want Trump to release his tax returns, and 51 percent believe his returns are either very or somewhat important to them.
Whether it resonates beyond Tax Day -- which is typically April 15, though the IRS is pushing the deadline to Tuesday -- is unclear. But Democrats in Congress continue to use tax returns as a wedge issue.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said not releasing the returns would make getting bipartisan agreement on tax reform “much harder.”
House Democrats attempted to give the issue legs before leaving on recess by filing a discharge petition, intended to force a vote on the matter on the House floor.
“Only with the release of President Trump’s tax returns can we be sure the American people are the president’s top priority,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., in a statement after the petition was filed.
House Democrats also are pushing for a vote on a bill sponsored by California Democrat Anna Eshoo that would require Trump, as well as major-party nominees, to submit their previous three years of tax returns to the Office of Government Ethics or the Federal Election Commission.
In a much-hyped segment, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow also recently aired a leaked copy of part of an old Trump tax return.
But it wasn't exactly damning. The files showed Trump paid $38 million in federal income tax in 2005 on more than $150 million. The effective rate of 25 percent was higher than the rate paid by former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

CartoonsTrashyDemsRinos